Whitebloc uses a hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) based decontamination technology for plastic bottles and caps that without requiring a water rinse, ensures maximum efficacy and reliability. The appropriate decontamination target for any kind of product – whether high or low acid – can be set according to the specific shelf-life required.

Bottles being decontaminated with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)

Detail of H2O2 based treatment for PET or HDPE containers

In a two-phase process the bottles first enter a first carrousel and are sprayed with a hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) solution. All critical points are controlled automatically to ensure maximum decontamination efficacy.

After the ‘dosing’ phase, the ‘activating phase’ takes place in a second carrousel. Here, the bottles are flushed with hot sterile air that activates the H2O2, purges out peroxides and achieves a final peroxide concentration of less than 0.5 ppm. No water rinsing is required.

Clean Box: the key to ESL technology

The Clean Box is a physically isolated ultraclean environment. To prevent the bottles becoming contaminated after H2O2 treatment, the filler/capper zone is surrounded by a HEPA filter providing a sterile air flow with an ambient overpressure of 10 Pa.

The surfaces within the Clean Box are both accessible and easy to clean.

Benefits:

Effective and flexible, different decontamination targets – up to 5 log on A. brasiliensis and up to 3 log on B. atrophaeus – to meet the shelf-life requirements of a wide variety of products can be achieved

Available for a wide range of bottle formats, ranging from ’single serve’ 200 ml bottles to 1 US gallon format

Low maintenance: no moving parts or valves are installed on the two carrousels

Small footprint

Performance:

Whitebloc ensures a decontamination target up to 5 log reduction on A. brasiliensis and up to 3 log reduction on B. atrophaeus upon completion of the ESL treatments. Whitebloc ESL is optimized for low to medium speed applications.

Sterilfoil VHP L: dry H2O2 technology for foil decontamination

Sterilcap VHP L system is designed to handle both flat and sports caps, and offers a wide range of decontamination target levels to meet a variety of shelf-life requirements. During a preheating phase, the caps are exposed to an ideal temperature profile, which prevents condensation and ensures a very low level of residual peroxides (<0.05 ppm). Despite being a robust decontamination treatment, the Sterilcap is a gentle technology. The caps are maneuvered using only the VHP flow and gravity, which ensures that the slipping agent remains in place.

Sterilfoil VHP L: H2O2 technology for foil decontamination

Sterilcap VHP L: dry H2O2 technology for cap sterilization

Using H2O2-based decontamination, the Sterilfoil VHP L provides customers with a safe and hygienic sealing system for HDPE containers.

A compact sterilization chute allows simultaneous internal and external foil decontamination. The foils are pushed forward in a pressurized VHP flow through rails shaped to change the contact points during the process.